Falkenberg named Pulitzer Prize finalist

The Houston Chronicle columnist was named as a finalist for commentary in journalism's most prestigious prize. Look at the columns that earned her the distinction.

April 14, 2014 4:40 PM

Photo: Alberto Martínez/ Austin American-Statesman/AP

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This payday loan column is for you, Councilman Rodriguez

Good morning, Councilman James Rodriguez. This one is for you.

I know you're not too keen on the payday loan regulations before the Houston City Council today. You skipped last week's meeting, which would allow you to "tag" the measure, delaying Wednesday's vote until next year. Read the rest of the column at HoustonChronicle.com.

Pictured: Tiffany Richardson, shown next to her 1999 Toyota SUV in Stafford.

The first marathon I ever attended was in Fort Worth around 1995. I say "attended" because I didn't run. I don't run. I've never even walked a turkey trot. My lungs threaten to catch fire if I exceed a brisk walk at the mall.

But there I was, a high school kid watching my first marathon with the family of my high school sweetheart, whose sister and her roommate from Houston were the ones running. As we waited for them to pass by, I remember being struck by the fact that not everyone resembled Olympic athletes, with lean, graceful physiques. There were large bodies, and old bodies and wobbly bodies and lumbering, awkward bodies, and bodies that seemed to be in pain, struggling with every step, that just kept going anyway. Read the rest of the column at HoustonChronicle.com.

In this photo that quickly went viral on the Internet, Bill Iffrig, 78, remains on the ground as police officers hurry toward the scene of Monday's second explosion. less

Runners have strength to persevere

The first marathon I ever attended was in Fort Worth around 1995. I say "attended" because I didn't run. I don't run. I've never even walked a turkey trot. My lungs threaten to

Runners have strength to persevere The first marathon I... Photo-4477493.83862 - Houston Chronicle

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Abortion bill will force women into the shadows

"Yes. I do want to end abortion," state Sen. Dan Patrick told a Houston Chronicle reporter Thursday.

And with those words, Patrick, the father of the infamous sonogram bill and recently announced GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, confirmed the real motivation behind legislation the Senate considers today to drastically restrict abortion rights in Texas. Read the rest of the column at HoustonChronicle.com.

A woman carries a sign as she marches with other pro-abortion rights supporters through downtown Austin, Texas on Monday evening, July 8, 2013. The Texas House began debating a bill on Tuesday that would impose tough new restrictions on abortions.

When I read about Herlinda Garcia's case last week, my first feelings were sadness and disgust. Then I thought of Greg Abbott, the Texas attorney general, recently announced gubernatorial candidate, and victim of a tragic tree-falling accident in Houston that left him paralyzed in 1984.

As a former plaintiff who sued the homeowner whose tree fell on him, along with the tree service company, and won a settlement of more than $10 million, I wondered what he'd think about what happened to Garcia. Read the rest of column at HoustonChronicle.com.

No place for hate while singing the national anthem I am... Photo-4782161.83862 - Houston Chronicle

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Dad takes me along on his last haul

Just after 7 a.m., my father is sitting in the dining room, already dressed in his blue-collared uniform shirt and navy pants. He's bending over to lace his shoe. I ask him how it feels to get ready for work for the last time.

Bertie Simmons didn't ask to be here. And even after she finally agreed to come out of retirement to turn around a struggling dropout factory plagued by gang violence, the former assistant superintendent planned to stay only a few months.

After all, she thought, how effective could an old white lady from West U be as principal of a poor, largely minority campus where fewer than half graduated, where hundreds of students were suspended a year, where a simple assembly could prompt a riot. A place where teachers welcomed her with a dead fish on her desk and cigarette butts in her toilet. Read the rest of the column at HoustonChronicle.com.

Dr. Bertie Simmons, 78, came out of retirement to rescue Furr High School, where her tough-love approach includes hallway hugs with students like Mario Moreno, 15.

In those tense, thickly ticking moments before midnight, all many of us on the ground floor of the Texas Senate could do was marvel gape-mouthed at the scene a floor above, one we knew we'd likely never see again.

Hundreds of Texans who had filled the gallery throughout the day to "Stand With Wendy" in the Fort Worth Democratic senator's pink-sneakered, 11-hour filibuster of a restrictive abortion bill were now themselves on their feet, chanting, yelling, applauding with a roar so deafening that they had drowned out parliamentary debate below. Read the rest of the column at HoustonChronicle.com.

A spectator shouts in the chamber as Wendy Davis is stopped during her filibuster in an effort to cause abortion legislation to die without a vote on the floor of the Senate, June 25, 2013. less

Senate debate on abortion crossed many lines

In those tense, thickly ticking moments before midnight, all many of us on the ground floor of the Texas Senate could do was marvel gape-mouthed at the scene a floor

No 12-year-old should be a mother. But that's the hand that life has dealt a Pearland middle school student we'll call Angela.

The petite, soft-spoken girl, allegedly raped by her mother's 21-year-old live-in boyfriend, was placed in state protective custody in May after her mother abandoned her following a long family history of abuse and neglect. Read the rest of the column at HoustonChronicle.com.